Mediterranean Roast Chicken Thighs

By Lori Powell
For One or Two Bites, a blog for singles and couples

Who doesn’t love a good roast chicken? The crispy skin…the delicious pan juices…what’s not to like?

During the week, cooking up a whole bird, although not hard to do, might just take a little too long. So I go with my favorite part, the thighs. I love thighs because of the juicy dark meat and ample skin that tops the bone-in version. Plus, it only takes about a fourth of the time to roast thighs, as compared to a whole bird.

Another win is that you can buy just the amount you need. (But who would roast just enough for one, when cooking for one takes just as much time as for three!) Leftovers will yield some killer roast chicken sandwiches or can be used to top a salad for lunch. Or, use it for a quick chicken noodle soup or pasta dish the second night for dinner.

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Five Ingredients make an Easy Meal

By Ben Mims
For Cooking Newbie, a blog for beginner cooks

Since moving to Berkeley from San Francisco three months ago, I’d been living in a small apartment with no kitchen. Suffice it to say, it was difficult for me to cook every night for dinner.

But two days ago, my partner and I moved into a new apartment with a large kitchen and I wanted to commemorate it. So I dusted off all my kitchen tools and set forth making one of my favorite meals to celebrate the occasion: salsa-braised chicken.

This dish is one of those that seems too simple to be good. It only has five ingredients (excluding salt, of course), and is ready in less than an hour and a half.

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Home Again

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

I’m fortunate that my business takes me to extraordinary cities and provides an opportunity to enjoy sensational meals. But after a trip that includes a few days of fine dining, I’m ready for something simple when I get home. That was my culinary state of mind when I returned Friday night from New York City.

Japanese home cooking is a good antidote for fancy meals and one of my favorites is Oyako Donburi. “Donburi” means “bowl,” and donburi meals consist of a big bowl of rice with seasoned toppings. So that is what I made for dinner Saturday night.

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How to Roast a Chicken

By David Hu

In the time that it takes you to watch this video, you could have prepped a chicken and popped it into the oven, where it would roast unattended until dinner. Sure it’s easy to buy a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket, but there’s nothing like the flavor of a plump, juicy, homemade roast bird.  Bonus: your whole house will smell so inviting, making everyone ravenous.

Be sure to crank up your oven before you start, since it will take 10 or 15 minutes to get the heat up to 400 degrees.  The length of time required to roast your chicken depends on the size of the bird. Allow 15 to 18 minutes per pound.  Altogether, you’ll need about 1 to 1 ½ hours of total roasting time.

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A Simple Korean-inspired Stir-fry

By David Hu

Korean food is getting to be all the rage, with food trucks like Kogi in Los Angeles. Today’s video recipe is a simple, one-pot Korean-inspired dish: Korean Sti-Fry Chicken.

When cooking the chicken, be sure your pan and oil are hot. Don’t crowd the pad or the chicken will steam instead of fry -- cook in two batches if your pan isn’t large enough. And let the chicken sear on one side before tossing, to keep chicken from sticking to the pan.

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